The Write Weight

Nutrition and Body Image

Kasey is a busy undergraduate student who is struggling with her body image and wants to lose weight. To aid in this process, Kasey keeps a food and activity journal. Students review Kasey's food and exercise choices, calculate Kasey's daily caloric intake and output to determine if she will lose or gain weight, and give advice to Kasey about her diet, energy levels, caffeine consumption, and body image. This case study was developed for a non-majors, general education course called "Biology of Women" to get students to consider nutrition and activity choices in relationship to body image. The case can be used in any human biology or nutrition class.

Copyright held by the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Please see our usage guidelines, which outline our policy concerning permissible reproduction of this work.

Teaching Notes

Case teaching notes are password-protected and access to them is limited to paid subscribed instructors. To become a paid subscriber, begin the process by registering here.

Teaching notes are intended to help teachers select and adopt a case. They typically include a summary of the case, teaching objectives, information about the intended audience, details about how the case may be taught, and a list of references and resources.

Videos

The following video(s) are recommended for use in association with this case study.

BMI Animation
This short animation shows a comparison of the change in Body Mass Index (BMI) for a given height and varying weights. It also shows why BMI is inaccurate for muscular people. Running time: 1:23 min. Produced by HHMI BioInteractive.